LAKE ELSINORE: Canary palms rejuvenated on Lakeshore

Regular travelers along a section of Lakeshore Drive in Lake Elsinore undoubtedly will notice that the distinctive Canary Island date palms lining the street look conspicuously different this week.

Gone are the shaggy overcoats of overgrown fronds and gnarled husks. In their place are sleek, manicured trunks and leafy plumes. Each is sculpted into the "pineapple" design that is the signature of a well-kept
Canary palm
.

"The fact that this got done is absolutely mind-boggling for me," said Tim Fleming.

His house on Lakeshore is across the street from a row of palms benefiting from the tree-trimming effort.

A city-hired crew spent last week cleaning up 51 Canary Island palms after years of neglect along Lakeshore from Chaney Street to Riverside Drive.

It was no easy task, said Jeff Offutt of WC Tree Service, which did the trimming.

"Oh, my God, it's ridiculous," the Lake Elsinore resident said of the work. "It's not only making the pineapple, it's stripping all the old stuff out that's been in there maybe 10 to 20 years. ... Some of them ... actually had trees growing out of the side of the tree."

The work preceded a community cleanup by volunteers Sunday as part of the Clean Extreme project. It was a collaboration of
City Hall
, community groups and individuals to spruce up Lake Elsinore.

"The (Sunday) cleanup crew came along and picked up all the husks and debris left from cleaning up the trees," Offutt said. "That made it a little bit easier for the city. ... They did save themselves some money."

He believes the work by both his crew and the volunteers did wonders for the Lakeshore corridor's appearance.

"The trees on Lakeshore now look like they belong in Orange County," he said.

Organizers of Clean Extreme picked Fleming, a veteran civic activist, to coordinate the Lakeshore tasks. Other volunteers focused on Main Street from Interstate 15 to downtown and the Lake Elsinore Senior Center.

The choice of Fleming was appropriate considering his history of protecting the city's palm trees, dating back more than a decade.

He led a community protest in late 1999 and early 2000 that ultimately stopped the city from ripping out palm trees all over Country Club Heights, the neighborhood encompassing the hills along Lakeshore Drive.

His affection for palms, he said, probably stems back to his childhood in
Dayton, Ohio
, when he drew pictures of ships sailing to exotic isles and went on a family vacation to
Fort Lauderdale
.

"I was just fascinated with palm trees and the ocean," he said. "I've always loved the water."

Not surprisingly, he was pleased with the city's decision to go forward with a full-fledged manicure of the palms, rather than just interim maintenance.

"I've spent years trying to get this done," he said.

Picking up all the foliage left from the trimming was an imposing task for the team of volunteers, who included Lake Elsinore Mayor Brian Tisdale and City Councilman Peter Weber.

"They just did a helluva job," Fleming said of the volunteers.

He views the palm tree cleanup as a precursor to getting some other enhancement projects done, such as the undergrounding of power lines along Lakeshore.

"It's a diamond in the rough," he said of Lake Elsinore. "It was a boom town here (decades ago). We just need to get back to that again."

Just to let people know how much he appreciated the efforts of everyone responsible for the Lakeshore cleanup, Fleming hung up a sign along the road that simply reads, "Thank you."